The ability to communicate your knowledge in oral and written formats is a core academic skill set you should acquire whilst at University.
Paramedicine is a dynamic occupation within the medical profession. With ongoing advancements in research and technology, the scope of paramedic practice is ever changing. Consequently, as an individual working towards making this your career, it is crucial that you are able to seek out information relevant to your future skills set and understand the principles and theories that underpin your practice. It is intended that this assignment will help facilitate your learning of current practice and provide you with reference points for you to utilise throughout your career. Hopefully it may inspire and encourage you to eventually take an active role in helping to define clinical practice guidelines or protocols in your future careers.
Learning Outcomes
Successful completion of this assignment will allow you to;
? become competent at searching relevant information sources including biomedical
literature.
? review the evidence-base that guides the clinical adoption of technological
developments or changes in patient management.
? develop balanced and well supported viewpoints relevant to the treatment of clinical
conditions.
? broaden your understanding of paramedic practice.
Assignment Requirements
You are required to produce a comprehensive and succinct academic essay, of no more than 1500 words, addressing the topic outlined below:
�Australian ambulance services adult cardiac arrest clinical practice guidelines are created according to best practice using credible evidence�.
Choose ONE Australian ambulance service�s adult cardiac arrest clinical practice guideline and ONE element of resuscitation and discuss the above statement.
Assignment Due: Friday 1st May, 2015. Midday (1200hrs). Weighting: 30% of grade for subject
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Assignment Structure
You should start by selecting an Australian ambulance service and examining the adult cardio / cardiorespiratory arrest clinical practice guideline. You then need to select one element of the resuscitation guideline, eg. compressions, defibrillation, ventilation, medications, fluid therapy etc. After introducing your topic and focus you can then begin to build your essay.
The body of your essay should progress through a discussion of your chosen element of resuscitation and its components as it relates to the guideline, eg. compressions � rate, depth, ratios, interruptions, hand placement etc. These should be evidenced by current research, from journal articles and medical literature. Each component should be clearly set out in paragraphs and titled with headings.
Finally, you should conclude your essay with a summary of your findings and make a recommendation in relation to how well the CPG is backed with credible evidence.
Literature Search
Journal articles will provide you with the most reliable evidence-base related to resuscitation.
To find the journal articles you need, please use the search methods outlined in lecture 2, by Craig Brittan from Sturt Library.
Referencing
All referencing for this assignment will utilise the Author-Date (Harvard) System.
Students who are having any difficulties with writing this essay, or those who are not sure of how to reference correctly, should contact the Student Learning Centre, located in the Registry Annex (Map Reference 23).